Quote Originally Posted by Mimilu View Post
Just because there are things to do doesn't mean they are fun, interesting, or engaging. :B
How many of the activities you listed there are just busy work and how many are actually engaging?
That's, perhaps sadly, the golden question of game design that no one will ever truly solve. How do you make content that is equally engaging and exciting to everyone? The answer, simply put, is that you can't. Some players find PVP to be incredibly engaging, while others hate that kind of competitive play. Some players enjoy the challenge of hardcore raiding, but other players find them unnecessarily stressful and/or time consuming. Some players are intense about glamour, mounts, and minions, spending hours just designing their look. Others love to craft, or gather. Still others revel in the lore and story of the world, eagerly hunting out secrets wherever they might be found.

Basically, "engaging" content differs drastically depending on the person. The best SE can do is attempt to satisfy multiple tastes. That's why they build hardcore raids, easier raids, Golden Saucer content, dungeons, story quests, the (admittedly poorly implemented) Diadem, primal fights, crafting economies, comedy quest-lines like Hildebrand, and soon the Deep Dungeon for those who enjoy smaller party sizes and randomized content. SE is clearly trying to satisfy different urges where they can, though we can certainly argue whether or not they've been successful at it.